This time, because the Main Quest was of an unprecedented Rank Three difficulty, there was no way it would be easy.
First was Main Quest 1: Extract the power of ley lines or Dragon Veins.
Ley lines, also known as Dragon Veins, refer to the naturally flowing power within the land.
These powers exist in many forms.
For certain factions, they are an incredibly important source of energy.
For example, Christianity, modeled after the real-world religion, refers to this power as God's Blessing.
Magic organizations that formed the basis of modern Western magic refer to it as the Spiritual Body.
These energies, though as ubiquitous and invisible as air, are generally imperceptible to normal people. Only trained magicians or feng shui masters can detect and interact with them.
Main Quest 1 requires the collection of this very power.
And not just once, but ten times.
This is by no means a simple task.
Leaving aside the difficulty of traveling all around the world, the process of extraction itself is extremely complex.
To some factions within the Magic side, ley lines are extremely significant.
Some use the natural power flowing beneath the earth to fuel massive magical rituals and techniques. Many even construct their headquarters directly atop ley lines. In modern terms, it would be considered "excellent feng shui," providing numerous beneficial effects.
If someone tries to harvest that power indiscriminately, it would undoubtedly attract attention from the local factions who rely on those ley lines and likely lead to attacks or even assassination attempts.
Not to mention, extracting that power isn't something that can just be done casually.
Which makes this quest far from easy.
Next is Main Quest 2: Obtain originals of Magic Path Books.
Magic Path Books are forbidden tomes containing magical knowledge, and are powerful items in and of themselves.
Each word, paragraph, and chapter of a Magic Path Book can form a magical formation. If someone attempts to destroy one, the book will automatically launch semi-permanent retaliatory magic. And when activated using even the faintest amount of magic power from the magician who wrote it, it can unleash devastating effects.
Among these books, there exist the so-called "Originals."
As the name implies, they are the original versions of the Magic Path Books, the very first editions containing magical knowledge.
Originals operate differently: their text, paragraphs, and chapters become magical runes. Even without human input or magical energy, they can autonomously function by absorbing the faint natural power emitted from ley lines or Dragon Veins.
Because of this, it's impossible to destroy an Original by any means. At best, it can only be sealed.
Within the various factions of the Magic side, Original-ranked Magic Path Books are typically locked away under heavy security, protected by advanced magical defenses and powerful personnel.
To the average person, these places might look like ordinary museums, galleries, or exhibition halls.
But to insiders, they are fortresses.
Trying to steal an Original from one of these fortresses is something that even the strongest of magicians would hesitate to attempt.
Unless one possesses the combat strength necessary to single-handedly conquer a small country, there's simply no way to pull off such a heist.
And this quest demands that they do this ten times?
The level of difficulty is almost unimaginable.
While not all Originals are sealed away, some are still out in the open due to various circumstances, even locating those scattered copies would be anything but easy.
In short, even without considering Main Quest 3, which requires gaining 50,000 Exchange Points, the difficulty of just the first two quests is overwhelming, completely beyond what a typical Fourth-Rank Divine Envoy could hope to handle.
"Let's put aside the Magic Path Books for now,"
Fang Li calmly said to Sylvia.
"Just the task of extracting ley lines or Dragon Vein power is already troublesome enough."
"As for the method of extraction, I do have an item that can handle it, so that's not a problem. The real issue is the local factions that might try to interfere."
That was where the true difficulty lay.
As for extracting the power itself, that was relatively easier to deal with.
"Not to mention, we also have to consider the situation in Academy City," Fang Li said to Sylvia. "After all, we can't just casually leave the country."
Leaving the city itself wasn't all that difficult.
With Fang Li and Sylvia's abilities, breaking out of Academy City wouldn't be hard at all.
But doing so would instantly expose them as anomalies.
If they wanted to keep living in the city without drawing attention from the powers that be, they'd need to figure out a way to leave the city naturally, travel around the world, and then find a means of collecting the ley line, or Dragon Vein, energy.
"So for now, let's not worry about Main Quest 3. Unless we trigger a Side Quest or run into some special circumstances, there's no way to complete it right now anyway. We'll have to leave it to fate."
Fang Li looked straight at Sylvia.
"But for Main Quest 1 and Main Quest 2, we need to seriously start thinking about our approach."
In truth, if it were just a matter of sneaking out of Academy City without being noticed, Fang Li did have ways to do it.
The real concern was how to deal with the powerful factions protecting the ley lines and the Original Magic Grimoires, that was the real challenge.
However, Sylvia paused in thought, then after a moment, suddenly raised her head and said:
"If we could find a way to leave the city naturally and travel naturally around the world, then we could secretly collect the ley line power, right?"
Hearing this, Fang Li was momentarily stunned, then nodded.
"Ideally, we'd also conceal our abilities while doing it, so no one could identify our true nature."
Otherwise, if their identities were exposed, it would lead to an investigation, and eventually the trail would lead back to Academy City, resulting in all sorts of trouble.
Of course, all of this was based on being extremely cautious.
Because this world was far more complicated than it looked on the surface. Acting recklessly would only lead to a very ugly death.
Fang Li wasn't afraid to die, but this time, he had more to worry about than just himself. He also had to think about Sylvia's safety.
This Dungeon Quest was extremely dangerous.
Once they started, they'd inevitably become enemies of the major Magic factions.
And if their identities were exposed, even the Science side, Academy City, would turn against them.
That was the kind of grim situation they were in.
Yet Sylvia just smiled.
And then she said:
"If it's just Main Quest 1, I actually have a really good idea."
As she spoke, she winked at Fang Li like she was about to pull off a prank, and before he could even respond, she left him with one last line:
"Just give me a bit of time to prepare. You focus on figuring out how to deal with Main Quest 2."
With that, Sylvia left Fang Li's room.
Watching her go, Fang Li didn't try to stop her, he just looked a little curious.
"That girl... what kind of idea did she come up with?"
Hopefully... she wouldn't go too overboard.
(End Of The Chapter)
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